Can anyone give a basic rundown of UOSA?

[BillSnow]

So my wife and I were reminiscing on old favorite games, and as usual, I got on the subject of missing UO before it sold out to lootwhoring... Made me want to start a personal server to show her the game, which led to me searching, then I came across UOSA...

So I have some basic questions before I try and find time to pour into any mmo...
1: What worlds are there? Is it classic Felucca, Trammel added, the added area that came with the horrible 3d game, or past that to stuff i never played?
2: I see references to automap and botting allowed.... Is there a quick reference to what those do?
3: Do these allowed third part programs affect the classic gameplay? Or just nice additions to make the mundane stuff less tedious?
4: How is the housing situation? Will I have to scout collapsing houses to place anything decent, or are there available spots (if far out) for a nice tower or even a castle?
5: Is the community in general more easy going or a complete gankfest / troll horde?
6: Is there any way to tie in an old account and get veteran rewards (if they are in this version) and get my old dye tubs back? Or that ghost horse... lol

Those are the only key points I can think of at the moment. Any feedback (good or bad) would be great... I REALLY miss UO...

In case it comes up, I played Lake Superior... I don't remember how many years.. and the characters I can remember that MIGHT be noticed were:
Sir Didymus - Tamer/Mage
Azure Ru'Thorn - Bard/Mage
Hephaestus - Craftsman
Acorn - Warrior/Thief

Looking forward to great times...

[Dudekisser]

Hey! Welcome to The Second Age.

Here's the tl;dr: If you played UO back in 1999, it's basically just like that, except with less people playing than you remember.

Longer answers to questions:

1: What worlds are there? Is it classic Felucca, Trammel added, the added area that came with the horrible 3d game, or past that to stuff i never played?

Just Felucca. No 3D stuff. All original sprites, so stuff like the giant spider and harpy are as they should be.

2: I see references to automap and botting allowed.... Is there a quick reference to what those do?

UO Auto Map is allowed so that you can navigate easier/better. Razor is allowed, think of it like UO Assist except worlds more robust. Referring to botting, it probably means unattended macroing, which is allowed (but unattended resource gathering isn't).

3: Do these allowed third part programs affect the classic gameplay? Or just nice additions to make the mundane stuff less tedious?

Overall, they are largely nice additions to make things less tedious.

One could argue that certain factors of Razor do alter the true classic gameplay, but it's sort of by degrees. For example Razor will let you set up macros to do stuff that you couldn't really do with the UO client in 1999. You can set up complex macros for just about any skill and situation, really. You can filter sounds, weather, etc. One that I appreciate though that is a departure (to me) is you can queue up items you're dragging, so if you're trying to drag stuff around too fast (as was the case often in UO) it will simply queue them up for you and still move them all instead of giving you the message that you're moving things around too quickly.

I would say one thing Razor does do that's pretty different from what I remember of 1999 UO, is PVP. Razor makes PVP a lot "easier" by way of being able to hotkey just about anything in any situation -- potions, targeting, spells, etc. Not necessarily a bad thing, and classic UO did catch up to this (if I remember). The nice thing being that this technique of PVPing is available to everyone so, while perhaps different than if you weren't using Razor at all, at least you can practice PVP as it is here and essentially do what everyone else is doing.

4: How is the housing situation? Will I have to scout collapsing houses to place anything decent, or are there available spots (if far out) for a nice tower or even a castle?

Housing wise, there are lots of spots for small houses. Anything up to a tower in size is not impossible but requires some searching. Keep and Castle may require buying from another player, which means it'll be up to or above the value of the deed itself depending on who you're talking to.

5: Is the community in general more easy going or a complete gankfest / troll horde?

From my experience, and admittedly I mostly do PvM and soloing and stuff, the community is a good mix of both. I've been attacked and killed while AFK in town, been PKed in dungeons, but conversely have run into a lot of really good people. Even the people running around in l33t clothing and such tend to be pretty generous.

6: Is there any way to tie in an old account and get veteran rewards (if they are in this version) and get my old dye tubs back? Or that ghost horse... lol

There isn't.

Further thoughts: I came to UO Second Age because I played during the era and absolutely missed it. The admins here have done an INSANELY good job recreating the T2A era of UO to the best that's possible. It's really an impressive feat. The player base is often great with what I consider the right amount of griefing (it wouldn't be UO without any of that).

If you haven't already, you may want to check out this thread about Lake Superior players: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=16011

You may also want to check out this FAQ: http://www.uosecondage.com/FAQ

And this for basic rules: http://www.uosecondage.com/Rules

I sadly don't play as much as I'd like but happy to help out if I can! Good luck.

[BillSnow]

Wow... thanks for the quick reply.

All sounds amazing... Will review those links when i get some free time later.

Looking back I played early 98 to sometime in 03 or 04... as origin was dead... never saw the samurai expansion...

I will look more into this and likely bring another 5 new players back with me to UO.. lol...

[Boomland Jenkins]

Glad to see another Lake Superior face! I'm an Administrator here on Second Age, former LS player from 1997 to 2002. You may have known me as RoadKill, Poisoner Bob, or RoadKillian. Typically you could find me lurking around Vesper and the Covetous mountain range.

Should you choice to join us, welcome to UOSA! If not, I am still glad to see someone reliving their UO days and introducing the game to new eyes.

[G.I Joe]

PM YOUR COORDINATES WHEN YOU'RE READY TO START YOUR TRAINING.

[Boondock_Saint]

I know of two tower spots... it's not the most desirable location, but they fit.

[Mens Rea]

u kill ppl then spam rude words at them

[Ill Gates]

I played LS too.